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I had a long talk with our HR woman at work one day during which she told me I get the hardest work in the shop because I'm capable and get it done. I had to ask, "this might be a naive question, but why do we have people who aren't capable, and are not the least inclined to be?"
She threw up her hands in exasperation and said "Oh I don't know, I've been trying to figure that one out for years!" Yeah, me too, because I've seen these perniciously entrenched slackers at just about every job I've ever had, getting away with quite brazen slothfulness as though they had every right to, seemingly sponsored in it by management.
So having given it a lot of thought I arrived at this conclusion yesterday. In many workplaces there is a kind of undeclared socialism going on, in which labor, by the time it's translated into paychecks, is redistributed in support of the slackers, who are paid the same as the hard workers, who never get a raise, and who's hard work allows the company to keep the slackers on, because *someone* in management both sympathizes and identifies with them, seeing in them their own inner slacker, which they cannot let out and still keep their job.
These managers may also secretly resent the hard workers while cynically making all possible use of them to burnish their image in the company, as well as to keep the slackers they secretly identify with employed there.
None of this is thought out, much less ever spoken of, but it does seem to be operating widely, and is acted out in the workplace as an emotional response to those who work the hardest by those in management who wish they could be the slothful lazy do-nothings they are keeping on as parasites who benefit from the hard work of others.
There may be more than one such person in management who operates in this way in support of the slackers, I've seen that too. At one job I had I was told by one of slackers, in a pretty nasty way, to stop working so hard because I was making them look bad (!)
Well, they WERE bad! They needn't have worried though, because all the hardest workers there were treated like dirt by management, and the goof-offs were their buds.
be careful now, you are starting to sound like a republican, or a conservative
to be rewarded by merit and performance???? you believe you should get paid more because you work harder???
take a good look around,,,,, achievement gets punished , you should feel fortunate, you can carry these slackers,,because they've had it tougher than you..
and good luck trying to get more pay for more output if you are not a minority-
yep things are upside down compared to 30 yrs ago.....
here's my advice without sarcasm, keep working hard, for your own self respect, you will be recognized, in time.....and dont hang or be pulled down by the losers,,,
be careful now, you are starting to sound like a republican, or a conservative
to be rewarded by merit and performance???? you believe you should get paid more because you work harder???
take a good look around,,,,, achievement gets punished , you should feel fortunate, you can carry these slackers,,because they've had it tougher than you..
and good luck trying to get more pay for more output if you are not a minority-
yep things are upside down compared to 30 yrs ago.....
here's my advice without sarcasm, keep working hard, for your own self respect, you will be recognized, in time.....and dont hang or be pulled down by the losers,,,
Fact is I AM a conservative and a republican, and being a hard worker with an actual work ethic is something I am proud of.
Much has been said in this thread that is true of the shop I work in and that I didn't mention in my original post. I'm pretty much forced into the position of being the introvert there, socially shut out, because I don't speak Spanish, the dominant clique there being Hispanics and they are the majority, dominating and monopolizing all the preferred work there, which is distributed along social lines so that they can all enthusiastically socialize at the work stations together, while pretending to do the work and just going through the motions.
All social conversation there is in Spanish, and all conversation about work is also in Spanish, so I am kept eternally in the dark about what's going on, and all the preferred work goes to the dominant social clique in the shop, while I'm left with the menial work most of the time, until the supervisors need a workhorse at a station, then I'm put there amidst the gossiping and happily socializing Hispanics, who totally ignore me as I work my butt off.
It's a terribly lonely place to work.
Of course it's politically incorrect to ever say anything at all about this situation, and to point it out would bring big trouble down upon my head in short order. This is just how it is in Southwest Florida. At one point a new rule was made that none of us were allowed to have our cell phones in the building, because one of the Hispanics abused that quite badly, but since they have all started ignoring that rule and I now see them all with the cell phones on the production floor, and nothing is said to them about it, but management makes sure I don't have mine in there.
I could go on and on about what goes on in that shop in these ways, but it would be a really long read, and others in the thread have already mentioned a lot of it. Needless to say, I'm very unhappy in this job, and have desperately been looking for a way out for a year now, but the job market here is quite wretched, and there's really nothing else out there.
Fact is I AM a conservative and a republican, and being a hard worker with an actual work ethic is something I am proud of.
Much has been said in this thread that is true of the shop I work in and that I didn't mention in my original post. I'm pretty much forced into the position of being the introvert there, socially shut out, because I don't speak Spanish, the dominant clique there being Hispanics and they are the majority, dominating and monopolizing all the preferred work there, which is distributed along social lines so that they can all enthusiastically socialize at the work stations together.
All social conversation there is in Spanish, and all conversation about work is also in Spanish, so I am kept eternally in the dark about what's going on, and all the preferred work goes to the dominant social clique in the shop, while I'm left with the menial work most of the time, until the supervisors need a workhorse at a station, then I'm put there amidst the gossiping and happily socializing Hispanics, who totally ignore me as I work my butt off.
It's a terribly lonely place to work.
Of course it's politically incorrect to ever say anything at all about this situation, and to point it out would bring big trouble down upon my head in short order. This is just how it is in Southwest Florida. At one point a new rule was made that none of us were allowed to have our cell phones in the building, because one of the Hispanics abused that quite badly, but since they have all started ignoring that rule and I now see them all with the cell phones on the production floor, and nothing is said to them about it, but management makes sure I don't have mine in there.
I could go on and on about what goes on in that shop in these ways, but it would be a really long read, and others in the thread have already mentioned a lot of it. Needless to say, I'm very unhappy in this job, and have desperately been looking for a way out for a year now, but the job market here is quite wretched, and there's really nothing else out there.
finding another job is easier when you already have one, I'm a conservative too, and was being sarcastic in my first post
send out resume's to companies you would like to work at, many jobs, and good jobs never get posted
and its all in timing, if you are on file, and a company wants a change of personnel, you can get some calls.
I would hope in your workplace, that the majority, would look out for minorities, and go out of their way to make you feel part of the team/accepted/not isolated
its funny how when the minority isnt a traditional minority, none of these workplace "culture" norms are enforced- I was required to attend a couple meetings a year on workplace culture, and "isolating" an employee was a form of harassment, particularly by language barriers
dont give up looking for another job, most companies love a good worker!!
I find that in many cases employees don't really understand the work of others and they are quick to state someone is a slacker but in reality management knows these people are just misunderstood and add value to the company.
Your answer is in the last sentence. My daughter became a manager in the same store where she had worked with one of these slackers. She said he spent the entire day sucking up to the boss. Then when she became the boss he started sucking up to her. She told him if he wanted to make her happy, it was not necessary for him to butter her up. He needed to get over to his department and turn it into the best department in the store. She told him she did not have an ego problem and he was not helping himself to stroke it. Hard work is what she valued.
I am dying to know.......what did the slacker do after your daughter called him out?
Sometimes it's because there are no other potential employees.
I live in a remote area. The cost of living a pretty high and people don't flock here. Another department where I work has some real slackers. Slackers with horrid customer service skills/basic manners, I must add. Drives us all nuts, but finding replacements has been impossible.
So, we educate, do write ups, bring in one motivational program after another, and the results? Nothing.
Companies keep "slackers" on at work because they cannot find anyone wanting to do the job no one wants to do, do not want want to invest in labor, or try to keep costs down and profits up.
Those who do their job efficiently and with quality, go above and beyond, exceeds expectations and deliver results strongly will get noticed. How they get noticed could be positive and negative.
Companies who thrive with "slackers" and denounce their better workers will struggle staying in business.
I already said it on this forum a million times working hard is not guaranteed to get you anywhere and in some places it will actually hurt you because people will see you as a threat. I think it seems like this more at office jobs that's for sure.
Companies keep "slackers" on at work because they cannot find anyone wanting to do the job no one wants to do, do not want want to invest in labor, or try to keep costs down and profits up.
Those who do their job efficiently and with quality, go above and beyond, exceeds expectations and deliver results strongly will get noticed. How they get noticed could be positive and negative.
Companies who thrive with "slackers" and denounce their better workers will struggle staying in business.
It is true some slackers in companies who are well liked, And the life of the party usually keep their jobs-However in many cases this is all they do. They never move up. People described above are driven people who know that the learning process in regards to skills never ends. They move up and get noticed-Either in their company or another. Someone else will notice them, Or they will look to move up after a while on their own once they see this phenomenon.
it should also be mentioned good management requires leadership, And the ability to make decisions-From the mundane to the tough ones to see goals get met, Quality is delivered and to keep the business profitable and competitive. Management that allows the ship to run at half mast is not managing. Driven people succeed because they have a vision and are willing to step into the ring time and again, consistently to forge ahead. That's how winning is done.
I had a long talk with our HR woman at work one day during which she told me I get the hardest work in the shop because I'm capable and get it done. I had to ask, "this might be a naive question, but why do we have people who aren't capable, and are not the least inclined to be?"
She threw up her hands in exasperation and said "Oh I don't know, I've been trying to figure that one out for years!" Yeah, me too, because I've seen these perniciously entrenched slackers at just about every job I've ever had, getting away with quite brazen slothfulness as though they had every right to, seemingly sponsored in it by management.
So having given it a lot of thought I arrived at this conclusion yesterday. In many workplaces there is a kind of undeclared socialism going on, in which labor, by the time it's translated into paychecks, is redistributed in support of the slackers, who are paid the same as the hard workers, who never get a raise, and who's hard work allows the company to keep the slackers on, because *someone* in management both sympathizes and identifies with them, seeing in them their own inner slacker, which they cannot let out and still keep their job.
These managers may also secretly resent the hard workers while cynically making all possible use of them to burnish their image in the company, as well as to keep the slackers they secretly identify with employed there.
None of this is thought out, much less ever spoken of, but it does seem to be operating widely, and is acted out in the workplace as an emotional response to those who work the hardest by those in management who wish they could be the slothful lazy do-nothings they are keeping on as parasites who benefit from the hard work of others.
There may be more than one such person in management who operates in this way in support of the slackers, I've seen that too. At one job I had I was told by one of slackers, in a pretty nasty way, to stop working so hard because I was making them look bad (!)
Well, they WERE bad! They needn't have worried though, because all the hardest workers there were treated like dirt by management, and the goof-offs were their buds.
I am one of the hard workers like you and I see it all the time each place I work. Management won't get rid of slackers and I could never figure that out since there are plenty of unemployed hard workers who could take their place, so maybe you have something with this theory. I really hate people like the HR person in your story who give answers such as, "I don't know why we have slackers, it's just something that has been a hallmark here for years!" and they kinda jokingly say that, which pisses me off. I have also experienced other co-workers who said I was making them look bad....lol....I hate that when people do this. I also hate how society always says if you work hard then doors will open for you or opportunities will come, yet they tell me that I haven't worked hard enough or tried hard enough so that is why I am where I am. This is bs. I find that the system allows kiss-azz people and slacking people get to the top because they won't think outside of the box and dispute what their masters may have to say when keeping to a standard way of doing things, even if that way really isn't beneficial or equal to everyone involved.
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